The Founding of Benjamin Franklin Yancey Elementary School

In the mid-1930s, several parents of Esmont School students joined together to create the Parent-Teacher League to further support African American education in Esmont. The group eventually became an accredited Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). By the 1940s, the Esmont High School and Little School were in poor condition, so members of the PTA raised money to purchase another four acres of land and petitioned the Albemarle County School Board for a modern brick school building. The school was finally built in 1960, replacing the Esmont School for Colored Students. It was named after Benjamin Franklin Yancey, and served grades one through seven, while 8-12 graders were sent to Burley High School in Charlottesville.

Students who attended BF Yancey Elementary School have fond memories of their time at the school and credit it for giving them a solid educational foundation and a lifelong love of learning. The school established strong traditions, like the Fall Festival and the May Pole. Thousands of students were educated where Yancey is now located between 1916-2017. 

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. In the late 1960s, BF Yancey became one of the integrated elementary schools in Albemarle County. BF Yancey served the community until 2017, when it was closed by the Albemarle County School Board. Though it no longer functions as a formal elementary school, the building remains a symbol of the long history of community-led African American education in Esmont.